diff --git a/app/victoria-metrics/main_test.go b/app/victoria-metrics/main_test.go
index 25a4b433f..805a5567a 100644
--- a/app/victoria-metrics/main_test.go
+++ b/app/victoria-metrics/main_test.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import (
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"log"
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
@@ -308,7 +307,7 @@ func readIn(readFor string, t *testing.T, insertTime time.Time) []test {
 		if filepath.Ext(path) != ".json" {
 			return nil
 		}
-		b, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
+		b, err := os.ReadFile(path)
 		s.noError(err)
 		item := test{}
 		s.noError(json.Unmarshal(b, &item))
diff --git a/app/vmagent/README.md b/app/vmagent/README.md
index 7ae2666cb..efff2fb4d 100644
--- a/app/vmagent/README.md
+++ b/app/vmagent/README.md
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ See [the list of supported service discovery types for Prometheus scrape targets
 
 ## scrape_config enhancements
 
-`vmagent` supports the following additional options in `scrape_configs` section:
+`vmagent` supports the following additional options in [scrape_configs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/sd_configs.html#scrape_configs) section:
 
 * `headers` - a list of HTTP headers to send to scrape target with each scrape request. This can be used when the scrape target needs custom authorization and authentication. For example:
 
@@ -199,9 +199,12 @@ scrape_configs:
 * `relabel_debug: true` for enabling debug logging during relabeling of the discovered targets. See [these docs](#relabeling).
 * `metric_relabel_debug: true` for enabling debug logging during relabeling of the scraped metrics. See [these docs](#relabeling).
 
+See [scrape_configs docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/sd_configs.html#scrape_configs) for more details on all the supported options.
+
+
 ## Loading scrape configs from multiple files
 
-`vmagent` supports loading scrape configs from multiple files specified in the `scrape_config_files` section of `-promscrape.config` file. For example, the following `-promscrape.config` instructs `vmagent` loading scrape configs from all the `*.yml` files under `configs` directory, from `single_scrape_config.yml` local file and from `https://config-server/scrape_config.yml` url:
+`vmagent` supports loading [scrape configs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/sd_configs.html#scrape_configs) from multiple files specified in the `scrape_config_files` section of `-promscrape.config` file. For example, the following `-promscrape.config` instructs `vmagent` loading scrape configs from all the `*.yml` files under `configs` directory, from `single_scrape_config.yml` local file and from `https://config-server/scrape_config.yml` url:
 
 ```yml
 scrape_config_files:
@@ -210,7 +213,7 @@ scrape_config_files:
 - https://config-server/scrape_config.yml
 ```
 
-Every referred file can contain arbitrary number of [supported scrape configs](#how-to-collect-metrics-in-prometheus-format). There is no need in specifying top-level `scrape_configs` section in these files. For example:
+Every referred file can contain arbitrary number of [supported scrape configs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/sd_configs.html#scrape_configs). There is no need in specifying top-level `scrape_configs` section in these files. For example:
 
 ```yml
 - job_name: foo
@@ -338,85 +341,94 @@ The following articles contain useful information about Prometheus relabeling:
 
 ## Relabeling enhancements
 
-VictoriaMetrics provides the following additional relabeling actions on top of standard actions from the [Prometheus relabeling](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#relabel_config):
+* The `replacement` option can refer arbitrary labels via {% raw %}`{{label_name}}`{% endraw %} placeholders. Such placeholders are substituted with the corresponding label value. For example, the following relabeling rule sets `instance-job` label value to `host123-foo` when applied to the metric with `{instance="host123",job="foo"}` labels:
 
-* `replace_all` replaces all of the occurrences of `regex` in the values of `source_labels` with the `replacement` and stores the results in the `target_label`. For example, the following relabeling config replaces all the occurrences of `-` char in metric names with `_` char (e.g. `foo-bar-baz` metric name is transformed into `foo_bar_baz`):
+  {% raw %}
+  ```yaml
+  - target_label: "instance-job"
+    replacement: "{{instance}}-{{job}}"
+  ```
+  {% endraw %}
+
+* An optional `if` filter can be used for conditional relabeling. The `if` filter may contain arbitrary [time series selector](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/basics/#time-series-selectors). For example, the following relabeling rule drops metrics, which don't match `foo{bar="baz"}` series selector, while leaving the rest of metrics:
 
   ```yaml
-  - action: replace_all
-    source_labels: ["__name__"]
-    target_label: "__name__"
-    regex: "-"
-    replacement: "_"
+  - action: keep
+    if: 'foo{bar="baz"}'
   ```
 
-* `labelmap_all` replaces all of the occurrences of `regex` in all the label names with the `replacement`. For example, the following relabeling config replaces all the occurrences of `-` char in all the label names with `_` char (e.g. `foo-bar-baz` label name is transformed into `foo_bar_baz`):
+  This is equivalent to less clear Prometheus-compatible relabeling rule:
 
   ```yaml
-  - action: labelmap_all
-    regex: "-"
-    replacement: "_"
+  - action: keep
+    source_labels: [__name__, bar]
+    regex: 'foo;baz'
   ```
 
-* `keep_if_equal`: keeps the entry if all the label values from `source_labels` are equal, while dropping all the other entries. For example, the following relabeling config keeps targets if they contain equal values for `instance` and `host` labels, while dropping all the other targets:
-
-  ```yaml
-  - action: keep_if_equal
-    source_labels: ["instance", "host"]
-  ```
-
-* `drop_if_equal`: drops the entry if all the label values from `source_labels` are equal, while keeping all the other entries. For example, the following relabeling config drops targets if they contain equal values for `instance` and `host` labels, while keeping all the other targets:
-
-  ```yaml
-  - action: drop_if_equal
-    source_labels: ["instance", "host"]
-  ```
-
-* `keep_metrics`: keeps all the metrics with names matching the given `regex`, while dropping all the other metrics. For example, the following relabeling config keeps metrics with `fo` and `bar` names, while dropping all the other metrics:
+* The `regex` value can be split into multiple lines for improved readability and maintainability. These lines are automatically joined with `|` char when parsed. For example, the following configs are equivalent:
 
   ```yaml
   - action: keep_metrics
-    regex: "foo|bar"
+    regex: "metric_a|metric_b|foo_.+"
   ```
 
-* `drop_metrics`: drops all the metrics with names matching the given `regex`, while keeping all the other metrics. For example, the following relabeling config drops metrics with `foo` and `bar` names, while leaving all the other metrics:
-
   ```yaml
-  - action: drop_metrics
-    regex: "foo|bar"
+  - action: keep_metrics
+    regex:
+    - "metric_a"
+    - "metric_b"
+    - "foo_.+"
   ```
 
-* `graphite`: applies Graphite-style relabeling to metric name. See [these docs](#graphite-relabeling) for details.
+* VictoriaMetrics provides the following additional relabeling actions on top of standard actions from the [Prometheus relabeling](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#relabel_config):
 
-The `regex` value can be split into multiple lines for improved readability and maintainability. These lines are automatically joined with `|` char when parsed. For example, the following configs are equivalent:
+  * `replace_all` replaces all of the occurrences of `regex` in the values of `source_labels` with the `replacement` and stores the results in the `target_label`. For example, the following relabeling config replaces all the occurrences of `-` char in metric names with `_` char (e.g. `foo-bar-baz` metric name is transformed into `foo_bar_baz`):
 
-```yaml
-- action: keep_metrics
-  regex: "metric_a|metric_b|foo_.+"
-```
+    ```yaml
+    - action: replace_all
+      source_labels: ["__name__"]
+      target_label: "__name__"
+      regex: "-"
+      replacement: "_"
+    ```
 
-```yaml
-- action: keep_metrics
-  regex:
-  - "metric_a"
-  - "metric_b"
-  - "foo_.+"
-```
+  * `labelmap_all` replaces all of the occurrences of `regex` in all the label names with the `replacement`. For example, the following relabeling config replaces all the occurrences of `-` char in all the label names with `_` char (e.g. `foo-bar-baz` label name is transformed into `foo_bar_baz`):
 
-VictoriaMetrics components support an optional `if` filter in relabeling configs, which can be used for conditional relabeling. The `if` filter may contain arbitrary [time series selector](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/basics/#time-series-selectors). For example, the following relabeling rule drops metrics, which don't match `foo{bar="baz"}` series selector, while leaving the rest of metrics:
+    ```yaml
+    - action: labelmap_all
+      regex: "-"
+      replacement: "_"
+    ```
 
-```yaml
-- action: keep
-  if: 'foo{bar="baz"}'
-```
+  * `keep_if_equal`: keeps the entry if all the label values from `source_labels` are equal, while dropping all the other entries. For example, the following relabeling config keeps targets if they contain equal values for `instance` and `host` labels, while dropping all the other targets:
 
-This is equivalent to less clear Prometheus-compatible relabeling rule:
+    ```yaml
+    - action: keep_if_equal
+      source_labels: ["instance", "host"]
+    ```
 
-```yaml
-- action: keep
-  source_labels: [__name__, bar]
-  regex: 'foo;baz'
-```
+  * `drop_if_equal`: drops the entry if all the label values from `source_labels` are equal, while keeping all the other entries. For example, the following relabeling config drops targets if they contain equal values for `instance` and `host` labels, while keeping all the other targets:
+
+    ```yaml
+    - action: drop_if_equal
+      source_labels: ["instance", "host"]
+    ```
+
+  * `keep_metrics`: keeps all the metrics with names matching the given `regex`, while dropping all the other metrics. For example, the following relabeling config keeps metrics with `fo` and `bar` names, while dropping all the other metrics:
+
+    ```yaml
+    - action: keep_metrics
+      regex: "foo|bar"
+    ```
+
+  * `drop_metrics`: drops all the metrics with names matching the given `regex`, while keeping all the other metrics. For example, the following relabeling config drops metrics with `foo` and `bar` names, while leaving all the other metrics:
+
+    ```yaml
+    - action: drop_metrics
+      regex: "foo|bar"
+    ```
+
+  * `graphite`: applies Graphite-style relabeling to metric name. See [these docs](#graphite-relabeling) for details.
 
 ## Graphite relabeling
 
diff --git a/app/vmagent/remotewrite/client.go b/app/vmagent/remotewrite/client.go
index c888092a4..06f4f324d 100644
--- a/app/vmagent/remotewrite/client.go
+++ b/app/vmagent/remotewrite/client.go
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package remotewrite
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"strings"
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@ again:
 	}
 	metrics.GetOrCreateCounter(fmt.Sprintf(`vmagent_remotewrite_requests_total{url=%q, status_code="%d"}`, c.sanitizedURL, statusCode)).Inc()
 	if statusCode == 409 || statusCode == 400 {
-		body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+		body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 		_ = resp.Body.Close()
 		if err != nil {
 			remoteWriteRejectedLogger.Errorf("sending a block with size %d bytes to %q was rejected (skipping the block): status code %d; "+
@@ -375,7 +375,7 @@ again:
 	if retryDuration > time.Minute {
 		retryDuration = time.Minute
 	}
-	body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	_ = resp.Body.Close()
 	if err != nil {
 		logger.Errorf("cannot read response body from %q during retry #%d: %s", c.sanitizedURL, retriesCount, err)
diff --git a/app/vmalert/config/config.go b/app/vmalert/config/config.go
index c97dbd99a..b0847448a 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/config/config.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/config/config.go
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"crypto/md5"
 	"fmt"
 	"hash/fnv"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/url"
+	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ func Parse(pathPatterns []string, validateTplFn ValidateTplFn, validateExpressio
 }
 
 func parseFile(path string) ([]Group, error) {
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error reading alert rule file: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/app/vmalert/datasource/vm.go b/app/vmalert/datasource/vm.go
index 189eead00..36547481f 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/datasource/vm.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/datasource/vm.go
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package datasource
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"strings"
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ func (s *VMStorage) do(ctx context.Context, req *http.Request) (*http.Response,
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error getting response from %s: %w", req.URL.Redacted(), err)
 	}
 	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		body, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+		body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 		_ = resp.Body.Close()
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unexpected response code %d for %s. Response body %s", resp.StatusCode, req.URL.Redacted(), body)
 	}
diff --git a/app/vmalert/main_test.go b/app/vmalert/main_test.go
index 87a98edfc..da21702b9 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/main_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/main_test.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package main
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"testing"
@@ -87,7 +86,7 @@ groups:
 `
 	)
 
-	f, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "")
+	f, err := os.CreateTemp("", "")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -154,7 +153,7 @@ groups:
 
 func writeToFile(t *testing.T, file, b string) {
 	t.Helper()
-	err := ioutil.WriteFile(file, []byte(b), 0644)
+	err := os.WriteFile(file, []byte(b), 0644)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
diff --git a/app/vmalert/notifier/alertmanager.go b/app/vmalert/notifier/alertmanager.go
index de6d5c226..14ec932c7 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/alertmanager.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/alertmanager.go
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ func (am *AlertManager) send(ctx context.Context, alerts []Alert) error {
 	defer func() { _ = resp.Body.Close() }()
 
 	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+		body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to read response from %q: %w", am.addr, err)
 		}
diff --git a/app/vmalert/notifier/config.go b/app/vmalert/notifier/config.go
index f7adf4147..1fb41ef17 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/config.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/config.go
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"crypto/md5"
 	"fmt"
 	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/url"
+	"os"
 	"path"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ func (cfg *Config) UnmarshalYAML(unmarshal func(interface{}) error) error {
 }
 
 func parseConfig(path string) (*Config, error) {
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error reading config file: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/app/vmalert/notifier/config_watcher_test.go b/app/vmalert/notifier/config_watcher_test.go
index 4120e75b2..8b70df842 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/config_watcher_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/config_watcher_test.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package notifier
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"math/rand"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
@@ -12,7 +11,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestConfigWatcherReload(t *testing.T) {
-	f, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "")
+	f, err := os.CreateTemp("", "")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -34,7 +33,7 @@ static_configs:
 		t.Fatalf("expected to have 2 notifiers; got %d %#v", len(ns), ns)
 	}
 
-	f2, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "")
+	f2, err := os.CreateTemp("", "")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -61,7 +60,7 @@ func TestConfigWatcherStart(t *testing.T) {
 	consulSDServer := newFakeConsulServer()
 	defer consulSDServer.Close()
 
-	consulSDFile, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "")
+	consulSDFile, err := os.CreateTemp("", "")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -107,7 +106,7 @@ func TestConfigWatcherReloadConcurrent(t *testing.T) {
 	consulSDServer2 := newFakeConsulServer()
 	defer consulSDServer2.Close()
 
-	consulSDFile, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "")
+	consulSDFile, err := os.CreateTemp("", "")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -123,7 +122,7 @@ consul_sd_configs:
       - consul
 `, consulSDServer1.URL, consulSDServer2.URL))
 
-	staticAndConsulSDFile, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "")
+	staticAndConsulSDFile, err := os.CreateTemp("", "")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -175,7 +174,7 @@ consul_sd_configs:
 
 func writeToFile(t *testing.T, file, b string) {
 	t.Helper()
-	checkErr(t, ioutil.WriteFile(file, []byte(b), 0644))
+	checkErr(t, os.WriteFile(file, []byte(b), 0644))
 }
 
 func checkErr(t *testing.T, err error) {
diff --git a/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite.go b/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite.go
index ec5ba98e6..943bba901 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite.go
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"path"
 	"strings"
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ func (c *Client) send(ctx context.Context, data []byte) error {
 	}
 	defer func() { _ = resp.Body.Close() }()
 	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusNoContent && resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		body, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+		body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 		return fmt.Errorf("unexpected response code %d for %s. Response body %q",
 			resp.StatusCode, req.URL.Redacted(), body)
 	}
diff --git a/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite_test.go b/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite_test.go
index ed2320262..668c422df 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite_test.go
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package remotewrite
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"io"
 	"math/rand"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ func (rw *rwServer) handler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		rw.err(w, fmt.Errorf("header read error: X-Prometheus-Remote-Write-Version is not 0.1.0 (%q)", h))
 	}
 
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadAll(r.Body)
+	data, err := io.ReadAll(r.Body)
 	if err != nil {
 		rw.err(w, fmt.Errorf("body read err: %w", err))
 		return
diff --git a/app/vmalert/templates/template.go b/app/vmalert/templates/template.go
index 6b81f0dc5..e1f88b5b1 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/templates/template.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/templates/template.go
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	htmlTpl "html/template"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"io"
 	"math"
 	"net"
 	"net/url"
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ func Load(pathPatterns []string, overwrite bool) error {
 		}
 	}
 	if len(tmpl.Templates()) > 0 {
-		err := tmpl.Execute(ioutil.Discard, nil)
+		err := tmpl.Execute(io.Discard, nil)
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to execute template: %w", err)
 		}
diff --git a/app/vmalert/utils/tls.go b/app/vmalert/utils/tls.go
index 4155f16c2..02a25c49d 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/utils/tls.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/utils/tls.go
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"crypto/tls"
 	"crypto/x509"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/http"
+	"os"
 	"strings"
 )
 
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ func TLSConfig(certFile, keyFile, CAFile, serverName string, insecureSkipVerify
 
 	var rootCAs *x509.CertPool
 	if CAFile != "" {
-		pem, err := ioutil.ReadFile(CAFile)
+		pem, err := os.ReadFile(CAFile)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot read `ca_file` %q: %w", CAFile, err)
 		}
diff --git a/app/vmctl/opentsdb/opentsdb.go b/app/vmctl/opentsdb/opentsdb.go
index f6700eb8a..bfa6bbcb6 100644
--- a/app/vmctl/opentsdb/opentsdb.go
+++ b/app/vmctl/opentsdb/opentsdb.go
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package opentsdb
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"io"
 	"log"
 	"net/http"
 	"strings"
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ func (c Client) FindMetrics(q string) ([]string, error) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Bad return from OpenTSDB: %q: %v", resp.StatusCode, resp)
 	}
 	defer func() { _ = resp.Body.Close() }()
-	body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not retrieve metric data from %q: %s", q, err)
 	}
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ func (c Client) FindSeries(metric string) ([]Meta, error) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Bad return from OpenTSDB: %q: %v", resp.StatusCode, resp)
 	}
 	defer func() { _ = resp.Body.Close() }()
-	body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not retrieve series data from %q: %s", q, err)
 	}
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ func (c Client) GetData(series Meta, rt RetentionMeta, start int64, end int64, m
 		return Metric{}, nil
 	}
 	defer func() { _ = resp.Body.Close() }()
-	body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Println("couldn't read response body from OpenTSDB query...skipping")
 		return Metric{}, nil
diff --git a/app/vmctl/vm/vm.go b/app/vmctl/vm/vm.go
index 481258532..50b068211 100644
--- a/app/vmctl/vm/vm.go
+++ b/app/vmctl/vm/vm.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"math"
 	"net/http"
 	"strings"
@@ -394,7 +393,7 @@ func do(req *http.Request) error {
 		_ = resp.Body.Close()
 	}()
 	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusNoContent {
-		body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+		body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to read response body for status code %d: %s", resp.StatusCode, err)
 		}
diff --git a/app/vmctl/vm_native.go b/app/vmctl/vm_native.go
index 88d687e3a..3c2105b18 100644
--- a/app/vmctl/vm_native.go
+++ b/app/vmctl/vm_native.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"log"
 	"net/http"
 
@@ -148,7 +147,7 @@ func (c *vmNativeClient) do(req *http.Request, expSC int) (*http.Response, error
 	}
 
 	if resp.StatusCode != expSC {
-		body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+		body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read response body for status code %d: %s", resp.StatusCode, err)
 		}
diff --git a/app/vmselect/netstorage/tmp_blocks_file.go b/app/vmselect/netstorage/tmp_blocks_file.go
index 5bde206d4..c7415caf4 100644
--- a/app/vmselect/netstorage/tmp_blocks_file.go
+++ b/app/vmselect/netstorage/tmp_blocks_file.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package netstorage
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"sync"
 
@@ -109,7 +108,7 @@ func (tbf *tmpBlocksFile) WriteBlockRefData(b []byte) (tmpBlockAddr, error) {
 
 	// Slow path: flush the data from tbf.buf to file.
 	if tbf.f == nil {
-		f, err := ioutil.TempFile(tmpBlocksDir, "")
+		f, err := os.CreateTemp(tmpBlocksDir, "")
 		if err != nil {
 			return addr, err
 		}
diff --git a/app/vmselect/promql/rollup_result_cache.go b/app/vmselect/promql/rollup_result_cache.go
index fd81c4716..22778f45a 100644
--- a/app/vmselect/promql/rollup_result_cache.go
+++ b/app/vmselect/promql/rollup_result_cache.go
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"crypto/rand"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"os"
 	"sync"
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
@@ -413,7 +413,7 @@ func mustLoadRollupResultCacheKeyPrefix(path string) {
 		rollupResultCacheKeyPrefix = newRollupResultCacheKeyPrefix()
 		return
 	}
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		logger.Errorf("cannot load %s: %s; reset rollupResult cache", path, err)
 		rollupResultCacheKeyPrefix = newRollupResultCacheKeyPrefix()
diff --git a/docs/CHANGELOG.md b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
index 39fecebaa..6159f6254 100644
--- a/docs/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ The following tip changes can be tested by building VictoriaMetrics components f
 * FEATURE: return shorter error messages to Grafana and to other clients requesting [/api/v1/query](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/keyConcepts.html#instant-query) and [/api/v1/query_range](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/keyConcepts.html#range-query) endpoints. This should simplify reading these errors by humans. The long error message with full context is still written to logs.
 * FEATURE: [VictoriaMetrics cluster](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html): reduce the amounts of logging at `vmstorage` when `vmselect` connects/disconnects to `vmstorage`.
 * FEATURE: [VictoriaMetrics cluster](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html): improve performance for heavy queries on systems with many CPU cores.
+* FEATURE: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html): add ability to use {% raw %}`{{label_name}}`{% endraw %} placeholders in the `replacement` option of relabeling rules. This simplifies constructing label values from multiple existing label values. See [these docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html#relabeling-enhancements) for details.
 * FEATURE: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html): generate additional per-target metrics - `scrape_series_limit`, `scrape_series_current` and `scrape_series_limit_samples_dropped` if series limit is set according to [these docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html#cardinality-limiter). This simplifies alerting on targets with the exceeded series limit. See [these docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html#automatically-generated-metrics) for details on these metrics.
 * FEATURE: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html): add support for MX record types in [dns_sd_configs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/sd_configs.html#dns_sd_configs) in the same way as Prometheus 2.38 [does](https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/pull/10099).
 * FEATURE: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html): add `__meta_kubernetes_service_port_number` meta-label for `role: service` in [kubernetes_sd_configs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/sd_configs.html#kubernetes_sd_configs) in the same way as Prometheus 2.38 [does](https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/pull/11002).
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ The following tip changes can be tested by building VictoriaMetrics components f
 
 * BUGFIX: prevent from excess CPU usage when the storage enters [read-only mode](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html#readonly-mode).
 * BUGFIX: improve performance for requests to [/api/v1/labels](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/url-examples.html#apiv1labels) and [/api/v1/label/.../values](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/url-examples.html#apiv1labelvalues) when the filter in the `match[]` query arg matches small number of time series. The performance for this case has been reduced in [v1.78.0](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CHANGELOG.html#v1780). See [this](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/2978) and [this](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/1533) issues.
+* BUGFIX: increase the default limit on the number of concurrent merges for small parts from 8 to 16. This should help resolving potential issues with heavy data ingestion. See [this comment](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/pull/2673#issuecomment-1218185978) from @lukepalmer .
 
 ## [v1.80.0](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.80.0)
 
diff --git a/docs/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.md b/docs/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.md
index 058110be8..4b5d05f15 100644
--- a/docs/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.md
+++ b/docs/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.md
@@ -300,8 +300,47 @@ All the node types - `vminsert`, `vmselect` and `vmstorage` - may be updated via
 Send `SIGINT` signal to the corresponding process, wait until it finishes and then start new version
 with new configs.
 
-Cluster should remain in working state if at least a single node of each type remains available during
-the update process. See [cluster availability](#cluster-availability) section for details.
+There are the following cluster update / upgrade approaches exist:
+
+* `No downtime` strategy. Gracefully restart every node in the cluster one-by-one with the updated config / upgraded binary.
+
+  It is recommended restarting the nodes in the following order:
+
+  1. Restart `vmstorage` nodes.
+  2. Restart `vminsert` nodes.
+  3. Restart `vmselect` nodes.
+
+  This strategy allows upgrading the cluster without downtime if the following conditions are met:
+
+  - The cluster has at least a pair of nodes of each type - `vminsert`, `vmselect` and `vmstorage`,
+    so it can continue accept new data and serve incoming requests when a single node is temporary unavailable
+    during its restart. See [cluster availability docs](#cluster-availability) for details.
+  - The cluster has enough compute resources (CPU, RAM, network bandwidth, disk IO) for processing
+    the current workload when a single node of any type (`vminsert`, `vmselect` or `vmstorage`)
+    is temporarily unavailable during its restart.
+  - The updated config / upgraded binary is compatible with the remaining components in the cluster.
+    See the [CHANGELOG](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CHANGELOG.html) for compatibility notes between different releases.
+
+  If at least a single condition isn't met, then the rolling restart may result in cluster unavailability
+  during the config update / version upgrade. In this case the following strategy is recommended.
+
+* `Minimum downtime` strategy:
+
+  1. Gracefully stop all the `vminsert` and `vmselect` nodes in parallel.
+  2. Gracefully restart all the `vmstorage` nodes in parallel.
+  3. Start all the `vminsert` and `vmselect` nodes in parallel.
+
+  The cluster is unavailable for data ingestion and querying when performing the steps above.
+  The downtime is minimized by restarting cluster nodes in parallel at every step above.
+  The `minimum downtime` strategy has the following benefits comparing to `no downtime` startegy:
+
+  - It allows performing config update / version upgrade with minimum disruption
+    when the previous config / version is incompatible with the new config / version.
+  - It allows perorming config update / version upgrade with minimum disruption
+    when the cluster has no enough compute resources (CPU, RAM, disk IO, network bandwidth)
+    for rolling upgrade.
+  - It allows minimizing the duration of config update / version ugprade for clusters with big number of nodes
+    of for clusters with big `vmstorage` nodes, which may take long time for graceful restart.
 
 ## Cluster availability
 
@@ -391,8 +430,8 @@ By default cluster components of VictoriaMetrics are tuned for an optimal resour
 - `-search.maxSamplesPerSeries` at `vmselect` limits the number of raw samples the query can process per each time series. `vmselect` sequentially processes raw samples per each found time series during the query. It unpacks raw samples on the selected time range per each time series into memory and then applies the given [rollup function](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/MetricsQL.html#rollup-functions). The `-search.maxSamplesPerSeries` command-line flag allows limiting memory usage at `vmselect` in the case when the query is executed on a time range, which contains hundreds of millions of raw samples per each located time series.
 - `-search.maxSamplesPerQuery` at `vmselect` limits the number of raw samples a single query can process. This allows limiting CPU usage at `vmselect` for heavy queries.
 - `-search.maxSeries` at `vmselect` limits the number of time series, which may be returned from [/api/v1/series](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/api/#finding-series-by-label-matchers). This endpoint is used mostly by Grafana for auto-completion of metric names, label names and label values. Queries to this endpoint may take big amounts of CPU time and memory at `vmstorage` and `vmselect` when the database contains big number of unique time series because of [high churn rate](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-high-churn-rate). In this case it might be useful to set the `-search.maxSeries` to quite low value in order limit CPU and memory usage.
-- `-search.maxTagKeys` at `vmselect` limits the number of items, which may be returned from [/api/v1/labels](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/api/#getting-label-names). This endpoint is used mostly by Grafana for auto-completion of label names. Queries to this endpoint may take big amounts of CPU time and memory at `vmstorage` and `vmselect` when the database contains big number of unique time series because of [high churn rate](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-high-churn-rate). In this case it might be useful to set the `-search.maxTagKeys` to quite low value in order to limit CPU and memory usage.
-- `-search.maxTagValues` at `vmselect` limits the number of items, which may be returned from [/api/v1/label/.../values](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/api/#querying-label-values). This endpoint is used mostly by Grafana for auto-completion of label values. Queries to this endpoint may take big amounts of CPU time and memory at `vmstorage` and `vmselect` when the database contains big number of unique time series because of [high churn rate](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-high-churn-rate). In this case it might be useful to set the `-search.maxTagValues` to quite low value in order to limit CPU and memory usage.
+- `-search.maxTagKeys` at `vmstorage` limits the number of items, which may be returned from [/api/v1/labels](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/api/#getting-label-names). This endpoint is used mostly by Grafana for auto-completion of label names. Queries to this endpoint may take big amounts of CPU time and memory at `vmstorage` and `vmselect` when the database contains big number of unique time series because of [high churn rate](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-high-churn-rate). In this case it might be useful to set the `-search.maxTagKeys` to quite low value in order to limit CPU and memory usage.
+- `-search.maxTagValues` at `vmstorage` limits the number of items, which may be returned from [/api/v1/label/.../values](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/api/#querying-label-values). This endpoint is used mostly by Grafana for auto-completion of label values. Queries to this endpoint may take big amounts of CPU time and memory at `vmstorage` and `vmselect` when the database contains big number of unique time series because of [high churn rate](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-high-churn-rate). In this case it might be useful to set the `-search.maxTagValues` to quite low value in order to limit CPU and memory usage.
 - `-storage.maxDailySeries` at `vmstorage` can be used for limiting the number of time series seen per day.
 - `-storage.maxHourlySeries` at `vmstorage` can be used for limiting the number of [active time series](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-an-active-time-series).
 
diff --git a/docs/FAQ.md b/docs/FAQ.md
index b9ebcaf14..8c6b85bdc 100644
--- a/docs/FAQ.md
+++ b/docs/FAQ.md
@@ -335,10 +335,4 @@ The query engine may behave differently for some functions. Please see [this art
 
 Single-node VictoriaMetrics cannot be restarted / upgraded or downgraded without downtime, since it needs to be gracefully shut down and then started again. See [how to upgrade VictoriaMetrics](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#how-to-upgrade-victoriametrics).
 
-[Cluster version of VictoriaMetrics](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html) can be restarted / upgraded / downgraded without downtime if the following conditions are met:
-
-* If every component of the cluster - `vminsert`, `vmselect` and `vmstorage` - has at least 2 instances.
-* If the cluster has enough compute resources (CPU, RAM, disk IO, network bandwidth) to perform rolling restart of all its components.
-* If the version used for upgrade / downgrade is compatible with the currently running version. The [CHANGELOG](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CHANGELOG.html) contains compatibility notes for the published releases.
-
-See [updating / reconfiguring cluster nodes](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html#updating--reconfiguring-cluster-nodes) for details on cluster upgrade.
+[Cluster version of VictoriaMetrics](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html) can be restarted / upgraded / downgraded without downtime according to [these instructions](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html#updating--reconfiguring-cluster-nodes).
diff --git a/docs/vmagent.md b/docs/vmagent.md
index 510a1a99e..ad20d4cd2 100644
--- a/docs/vmagent.md
+++ b/docs/vmagent.md
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ See [the list of supported service discovery types for Prometheus scrape targets
 
 ## scrape_config enhancements
 
-`vmagent` supports the following additional options in `scrape_configs` section:
+`vmagent` supports the following additional options in [scrape_configs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/sd_configs.html#scrape_configs) section:
 
 * `headers` - a list of HTTP headers to send to scrape target with each scrape request. This can be used when the scrape target needs custom authorization and authentication. For example:
 
@@ -203,9 +203,12 @@ scrape_configs:
 * `relabel_debug: true` for enabling debug logging during relabeling of the discovered targets. See [these docs](#relabeling).
 * `metric_relabel_debug: true` for enabling debug logging during relabeling of the scraped metrics. See [these docs](#relabeling).
 
+See [scrape_configs docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/sd_configs.html#scrape_configs) for more details on all the supported options.
+
+
 ## Loading scrape configs from multiple files
 
-`vmagent` supports loading scrape configs from multiple files specified in the `scrape_config_files` section of `-promscrape.config` file. For example, the following `-promscrape.config` instructs `vmagent` loading scrape configs from all the `*.yml` files under `configs` directory, from `single_scrape_config.yml` local file and from `https://config-server/scrape_config.yml` url:
+`vmagent` supports loading [scrape configs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/sd_configs.html#scrape_configs) from multiple files specified in the `scrape_config_files` section of `-promscrape.config` file. For example, the following `-promscrape.config` instructs `vmagent` loading scrape configs from all the `*.yml` files under `configs` directory, from `single_scrape_config.yml` local file and from `https://config-server/scrape_config.yml` url:
 
 ```yml
 scrape_config_files:
@@ -214,7 +217,7 @@ scrape_config_files:
 - https://config-server/scrape_config.yml
 ```
 
-Every referred file can contain arbitrary number of [supported scrape configs](#how-to-collect-metrics-in-prometheus-format). There is no need in specifying top-level `scrape_configs` section in these files. For example:
+Every referred file can contain arbitrary number of [supported scrape configs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/sd_configs.html#scrape_configs). There is no need in specifying top-level `scrape_configs` section in these files. For example:
 
 ```yml
 - job_name: foo
@@ -342,85 +345,94 @@ The following articles contain useful information about Prometheus relabeling:
 
 ## Relabeling enhancements
 
-VictoriaMetrics provides the following additional relabeling actions on top of standard actions from the [Prometheus relabeling](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#relabel_config):
+* The `replacement` option can refer arbitrary labels via {% raw %}`{{label_name}}`{% endraw %} placeholders. Such placeholders are substituted with the corresponding label value. For example, the following relabeling rule sets `instance-job` label value to `host123-foo` when applied to the metric with `{instance="host123",job="foo"}` labels:
 
-* `replace_all` replaces all of the occurrences of `regex` in the values of `source_labels` with the `replacement` and stores the results in the `target_label`. For example, the following relabeling config replaces all the occurrences of `-` char in metric names with `_` char (e.g. `foo-bar-baz` metric name is transformed into `foo_bar_baz`):
+  {% raw %}
+  ```yaml
+  - target_label: "instance-job"
+    replacement: "{{instance}}-{{job}}"
+  ```
+  {% endraw %}
+
+* An optional `if` filter can be used for conditional relabeling. The `if` filter may contain arbitrary [time series selector](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/basics/#time-series-selectors). For example, the following relabeling rule drops metrics, which don't match `foo{bar="baz"}` series selector, while leaving the rest of metrics:
 
   ```yaml
-  - action: replace_all
-    source_labels: ["__name__"]
-    target_label: "__name__"
-    regex: "-"
-    replacement: "_"
+  - action: keep
+    if: 'foo{bar="baz"}'
   ```
 
-* `labelmap_all` replaces all of the occurrences of `regex` in all the label names with the `replacement`. For example, the following relabeling config replaces all the occurrences of `-` char in all the label names with `_` char (e.g. `foo-bar-baz` label name is transformed into `foo_bar_baz`):
+  This is equivalent to less clear Prometheus-compatible relabeling rule:
 
   ```yaml
-  - action: labelmap_all
-    regex: "-"
-    replacement: "_"
+  - action: keep
+    source_labels: [__name__, bar]
+    regex: 'foo;baz'
   ```
 
-* `keep_if_equal`: keeps the entry if all the label values from `source_labels` are equal, while dropping all the other entries. For example, the following relabeling config keeps targets if they contain equal values for `instance` and `host` labels, while dropping all the other targets:
-
-  ```yaml
-  - action: keep_if_equal
-    source_labels: ["instance", "host"]
-  ```
-
-* `drop_if_equal`: drops the entry if all the label values from `source_labels` are equal, while keeping all the other entries. For example, the following relabeling config drops targets if they contain equal values for `instance` and `host` labels, while keeping all the other targets:
-
-  ```yaml
-  - action: drop_if_equal
-    source_labels: ["instance", "host"]
-  ```
-
-* `keep_metrics`: keeps all the metrics with names matching the given `regex`, while dropping all the other metrics. For example, the following relabeling config keeps metrics with `fo` and `bar` names, while dropping all the other metrics:
+* The `regex` value can be split into multiple lines for improved readability and maintainability. These lines are automatically joined with `|` char when parsed. For example, the following configs are equivalent:
 
   ```yaml
   - action: keep_metrics
-    regex: "foo|bar"
+    regex: "metric_a|metric_b|foo_.+"
   ```
 
-* `drop_metrics`: drops all the metrics with names matching the given `regex`, while keeping all the other metrics. For example, the following relabeling config drops metrics with `foo` and `bar` names, while leaving all the other metrics:
-
   ```yaml
-  - action: drop_metrics
-    regex: "foo|bar"
+  - action: keep_metrics
+    regex:
+    - "metric_a"
+    - "metric_b"
+    - "foo_.+"
   ```
 
-* `graphite`: applies Graphite-style relabeling to metric name. See [these docs](#graphite-relabeling) for details.
+* VictoriaMetrics provides the following additional relabeling actions on top of standard actions from the [Prometheus relabeling](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#relabel_config):
 
-The `regex` value can be split into multiple lines for improved readability and maintainability. These lines are automatically joined with `|` char when parsed. For example, the following configs are equivalent:
+  * `replace_all` replaces all of the occurrences of `regex` in the values of `source_labels` with the `replacement` and stores the results in the `target_label`. For example, the following relabeling config replaces all the occurrences of `-` char in metric names with `_` char (e.g. `foo-bar-baz` metric name is transformed into `foo_bar_baz`):
 
-```yaml
-- action: keep_metrics
-  regex: "metric_a|metric_b|foo_.+"
-```
+    ```yaml
+    - action: replace_all
+      source_labels: ["__name__"]
+      target_label: "__name__"
+      regex: "-"
+      replacement: "_"
+    ```
 
-```yaml
-- action: keep_metrics
-  regex:
-  - "metric_a"
-  - "metric_b"
-  - "foo_.+"
-```
+  * `labelmap_all` replaces all of the occurrences of `regex` in all the label names with the `replacement`. For example, the following relabeling config replaces all the occurrences of `-` char in all the label names with `_` char (e.g. `foo-bar-baz` label name is transformed into `foo_bar_baz`):
 
-VictoriaMetrics components support an optional `if` filter in relabeling configs, which can be used for conditional relabeling. The `if` filter may contain arbitrary [time series selector](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/basics/#time-series-selectors). For example, the following relabeling rule drops metrics, which don't match `foo{bar="baz"}` series selector, while leaving the rest of metrics:
+    ```yaml
+    - action: labelmap_all
+      regex: "-"
+      replacement: "_"
+    ```
 
-```yaml
-- action: keep
-  if: 'foo{bar="baz"}'
-```
+  * `keep_if_equal`: keeps the entry if all the label values from `source_labels` are equal, while dropping all the other entries. For example, the following relabeling config keeps targets if they contain equal values for `instance` and `host` labels, while dropping all the other targets:
 
-This is equivalent to less clear Prometheus-compatible relabeling rule:
+    ```yaml
+    - action: keep_if_equal
+      source_labels: ["instance", "host"]
+    ```
 
-```yaml
-- action: keep
-  source_labels: [__name__, bar]
-  regex: 'foo;baz'
-```
+  * `drop_if_equal`: drops the entry if all the label values from `source_labels` are equal, while keeping all the other entries. For example, the following relabeling config drops targets if they contain equal values for `instance` and `host` labels, while keeping all the other targets:
+
+    ```yaml
+    - action: drop_if_equal
+      source_labels: ["instance", "host"]
+    ```
+
+  * `keep_metrics`: keeps all the metrics with names matching the given `regex`, while dropping all the other metrics. For example, the following relabeling config keeps metrics with `fo` and `bar` names, while dropping all the other metrics:
+
+    ```yaml
+    - action: keep_metrics
+      regex: "foo|bar"
+    ```
+
+  * `drop_metrics`: drops all the metrics with names matching the given `regex`, while keeping all the other metrics. For example, the following relabeling config drops metrics with `foo` and `bar` names, while leaving all the other metrics:
+
+    ```yaml
+    - action: drop_metrics
+      regex: "foo|bar"
+    ```
+
+  * `graphite`: applies Graphite-style relabeling to metric name. See [these docs](#graphite-relabeling) for details.
 
 ## Graphite relabeling
 
diff --git a/lib/awsapi/config.go b/lib/awsapi/config.go
index e10d84736..706f87526 100644
--- a/lib/awsapi/config.go
+++ b/lib/awsapi/config.go
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"encoding/xml"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ func (cfg *Config) SignRequest(req *http.Request, payloadHash string) error {
 }
 
 func readResponseBody(resp *http.Response, apiURL string) ([]byte, error) {
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+	data, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	_ = resp.Body.Close()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot read response from %q: %w", apiURL, err)
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ func (cfg *Config) getAPICredentials() (*credentials, error) {
 		SecretAccessKey: cfg.defaultSecretKey,
 	}
 	if len(cfg.webTokenPath) > 0 {
-		token, err := ioutil.ReadFile(cfg.webTokenPath)
+		token, err := os.ReadFile(cfg.webTokenPath)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot read webToken from path: %q, err: %w", cfg.webTokenPath, err)
 		}
diff --git a/lib/backup/fsremote/fsremote.go b/lib/backup/fsremote/fsremote.go
index 3e7c65b12..4e4939f91 100644
--- a/lib/backup/fsremote/fsremote.go
+++ b/lib/backup/fsremote/fsremote.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package fsremote
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
@@ -218,7 +217,7 @@ func (fs *FS) CreateFile(filePath string, data []byte) error {
 	if err := fs.mkdirAll(path); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	if err := ioutil.WriteFile(path, data, 0600); err != nil {
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, data, 0600); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("cannot write %d bytes to %q: %w", len(data), path, err)
 	}
 	return nil
diff --git a/lib/cgroup/cpu.go b/lib/cgroup/cpu.go
index 218764804..15a007adf 100644
--- a/lib/cgroup/cpu.go
+++ b/lib/cgroup/cpu.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package cgroup
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"runtime"
 	"strconv"
@@ -80,7 +79,7 @@ func getCPUStat(statName string) (int64, error) {
 
 func getOnlineCPUCount() float64 {
 	// See https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/685#issuecomment-674423728
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile("/sys/devices/system/cpu/online")
+	data, err := os.ReadFile("/sys/devices/system/cpu/online")
 	if err != nil {
 		return -1
 	}
diff --git a/lib/cgroup/util.go b/lib/cgroup/util.go
index 422204bd2..aa1c80ae0 100644
--- a/lib/cgroup/util.go
+++ b/lib/cgroup/util.go
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ package cgroup
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"os"
 	"path"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
@@ -23,11 +23,11 @@ func getStatGeneric(statName, sysfsPrefix, cgroupPath, cgroupGrepLine string) (i
 
 func getFileContents(statName, sysfsPrefix, cgroupPath, cgroupGrepLine string) (string, error) {
 	filepath := path.Join(sysfsPrefix, statName)
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filepath)
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(filepath)
 	if err == nil {
 		return string(data), nil
 	}
-	cgroupData, err := ioutil.ReadFile(cgroupPath)
+	cgroupData, err := os.ReadFile(cgroupPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ func getFileContents(statName, sysfsPrefix, cgroupPath, cgroupGrepLine string) (
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("cannot find cgroup path for %q in %q: %w", cgroupGrepLine, cgroupPath, err)
 	}
 	filepath = path.Join(sysfsPrefix, subPath, statName)
-	data, err = ioutil.ReadFile(filepath)
+	data, err = os.ReadFile(filepath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
diff --git a/lib/fs/fs.go b/lib/fs/fs.go
index c4d23254a..9dc976f12 100644
--- a/lib/fs/fs.go
+++ b/lib/fs/fs.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package fs
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
@@ -269,20 +268,20 @@ func SymlinkRelative(srcPath, dstPath string) error {
 
 // CopyDirectory copies all the files in srcPath to dstPath.
 func CopyDirectory(srcPath, dstPath string) error {
-	fis, err := ioutil.ReadDir(srcPath)
+	des, err := os.ReadDir(srcPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	if err := MkdirAllIfNotExist(dstPath); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	for _, fi := range fis {
-		if !fi.Mode().IsRegular() {
+	for _, de := range des {
+		if !de.Type().IsRegular() {
 			// Skip non-files
 			continue
 		}
-		src := filepath.Join(srcPath, fi.Name())
-		dst := filepath.Join(dstPath, fi.Name())
+		src := filepath.Join(srcPath, de.Name())
+		dst := filepath.Join(dstPath, de.Name())
 		if err := copyFile(src, dst); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -383,14 +382,14 @@ func ReadFileOrHTTP(path string) ([]byte, error) {
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot fetch %q: %w", path, err)
 		}
-		data, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+		data, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 		_ = resp.Body.Close()
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot read %q: %s", path, err)
 		}
 		return data, nil
 	}
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot read %q: %w", path, err)
 	}
diff --git a/lib/fs/reader_at_test.go b/lib/fs/reader_at_test.go
index 4747030e7..5c279a5ff 100644
--- a/lib/fs/reader_at_test.go
+++ b/lib/fs/reader_at_test.go
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ package fs
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"os"
 	"testing"
 )
 
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ func testReaderAt(t *testing.T, bufSize int) {
 	path := "TestReaderAt"
 	const fileSize = 8 * 1024 * 1024
 	data := make([]byte, fileSize)
-	if err := ioutil.WriteFile(path, data, 0600); err != nil {
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, data, 0600); err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("cannot create %q: %s", path, err)
 	}
 	defer MustRemoveAll(path)
diff --git a/lib/fs/reader_at_timing_test.go b/lib/fs/reader_at_timing_test.go
index 87b012e97..1fd6216fc 100644
--- a/lib/fs/reader_at_timing_test.go
+++ b/lib/fs/reader_at_timing_test.go
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ package fs
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"os"
 	"testing"
 )
 
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ func benchmarkReaderAtMustReadAt(b *testing.B, isMmap bool) {
 	path := "BenchmarkReaderAtMustReadAt"
 	const fileSize = 8 * 1024 * 1024
 	data := make([]byte, fileSize)
-	if err := ioutil.WriteFile(path, data, 0600); err != nil {
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, data, 0600); err != nil {
 		b.Fatalf("cannot create %q: %s", path, err)
 	}
 	defer MustRemoveAll(path)
diff --git a/lib/mergeset/metaindex_row.go b/lib/mergeset/metaindex_row.go
index 3d5b07fe9..c06a4a194 100644
--- a/lib/mergeset/metaindex_row.go
+++ b/lib/mergeset/metaindex_row.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package mergeset
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"sort"
 
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/encoding"
@@ -83,7 +82,7 @@ func (mr *metaindexRow) Unmarshal(src []byte) ([]byte, error) {
 func unmarshalMetaindexRows(dst []metaindexRow, r io.Reader) ([]metaindexRow, error) {
 	// It is ok to read all the metaindex in memory,
 	// since it is quite small.
-	compressedData, err := ioutil.ReadAll(r)
+	compressedData, err := io.ReadAll(r)
 	if err != nil {
 		return dst, fmt.Errorf("cannot read metaindex data: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/lib/mergeset/part_header.go b/lib/mergeset/part_header.go
index a4d7007f7..785f54ba8 100644
--- a/lib/mergeset/part_header.go
+++ b/lib/mergeset/part_header.go
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ func (ph *partHeader) ParseFromPath(partPath string) error {
 
 	// Read other ph fields from metadata.
 	metadataPath := partPath + "/metadata.json"
-	metadata, err := ioutil.ReadFile(metadataPath)
+	metadata, err := os.ReadFile(metadataPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("cannot read %q: %w", metadataPath, err)
 	}
diff --git a/lib/mergeset/table.go b/lib/mergeset/table.go
index 29448de6c..e614b7ad2 100644
--- a/lib/mergeset/table.go
+++ b/lib/mergeset/table.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package mergeset
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"sort"
@@ -1259,7 +1258,7 @@ func runTransaction(txnLock *sync.RWMutex, pathPrefix, txnPath string) error {
 	txnLock.RLock()
 	defer txnLock.RUnlock()
 
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(txnPath)
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(txnPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("cannot read transaction file: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/lib/persistentqueue/persistentqueue.go b/lib/persistentqueue/persistentqueue.go
index ea412177f..31a17f171 100644
--- a/lib/persistentqueue/persistentqueue.go
+++ b/lib/persistentqueue/persistentqueue.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"regexp"
 	"strconv"
@@ -221,14 +220,14 @@ func tryOpeningQueue(path, name string, chunkFileSize, maxBlockSize, maxPendingB
 	}
 
 	// Locate reader and writer chunks in the path.
-	fis, err := ioutil.ReadDir(path)
+	des, err := os.ReadDir(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot read contents of the directory %q: %w", path, err)
 	}
-	for _, fi := range fis {
-		fname := fi.Name()
+	for _, de := range des {
+		fname := de.Name()
 		filepath := path + "/" + fname
-		if fi.IsDir() {
+		if de.IsDir() {
 			logger.Errorf("skipping unknown directory %q", filepath)
 			continue
 		}
@@ -671,7 +670,7 @@ func (mi *metainfo) WriteToFile(path string) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("cannot marshal persistent queue metainfo %#v: %w", mi, err)
 	}
-	if err := ioutil.WriteFile(path, data, 0600); err != nil {
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, data, 0600); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("cannot write persistent queue metainfo to %q: %w", path, err)
 	}
 	fs.MustSyncPath(path)
@@ -680,7 +679,7 @@ func (mi *metainfo) WriteToFile(path string) error {
 
 func (mi *metainfo) ReadFromFile(path string) error {
 	mi.Reset()
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
 			return err
diff --git a/lib/persistentqueue/persistentqueue_test.go b/lib/persistentqueue/persistentqueue_test.go
index e135eb415..4aa3daf1c 100644
--- a/lib/persistentqueue/persistentqueue_test.go
+++ b/lib/persistentqueue/persistentqueue_test.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package persistentqueue
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"strconv"
 	"testing"
@@ -371,7 +370,7 @@ func TestQueueLimitedSize(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func mustCreateFile(path, contents string) {
-	if err := ioutil.WriteFile(path, []byte(contents), 0600); err != nil {
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, []byte(contents), 0600); err != nil {
 		panic(fmt.Errorf("cannot create file %q with %d bytes contents: %w", path, len(contents), err))
 	}
 }
diff --git a/lib/promrelabel/config.go b/lib/promrelabel/config.go
index 830cf7cfe..bd31e99b1 100644
--- a/lib/promrelabel/config.go
+++ b/lib/promrelabel/config.go
@@ -343,8 +343,10 @@ func parseRelabelConfig(rc *RelabelConfig) (*parsedRelabelConfig, error) {
 		graphiteMatchTemplate: graphiteMatchTemplate,
 		graphiteLabelRules:    graphiteLabelRules,
 
-		regexOriginal:                regexOriginalCompiled,
-		hasCaptureGroupInTargetLabel: strings.Contains(targetLabel, "$"),
-		hasCaptureGroupInReplacement: strings.Contains(replacement, "$"),
+		regexOriginal: regexOriginalCompiled,
+
+		hasCaptureGroupInTargetLabel:   strings.Contains(targetLabel, "$"),
+		hasCaptureGroupInReplacement:   strings.Contains(replacement, "$"),
+		hasLabelReferenceInReplacement: strings.Contains(replacement, "{{"),
 	}, nil
 }
diff --git a/lib/promrelabel/if_expression_test.go b/lib/promrelabel/if_expression_test.go
index ce9f20290..18b654f4c 100644
--- a/lib/promrelabel/if_expression_test.go
+++ b/lib/promrelabel/if_expression_test.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompbmarshal"
@@ -188,6 +189,12 @@ func TestIfExpressionMismatch(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func parseMetricWithLabels(metricWithLabels string) ([]prompbmarshal.Label, error) {
+	stripDummyMetric := false
+	if strings.HasPrefix(metricWithLabels, "{") {
+		// Add a dummy metric name, since the parser needs it
+		metricWithLabels = "dummy_metric" + metricWithLabels
+		stripDummyMetric = true
+	}
 	// add a value to metricWithLabels, so it could be parsed by prometheus protocol parser.
 	s := metricWithLabels + " 123"
 	var rows prometheus.Rows
@@ -203,7 +210,7 @@ func parseMetricWithLabels(metricWithLabels string) ([]prompbmarshal.Label, erro
 	}
 	r := rows.Rows[0]
 	var lfs []prompbmarshal.Label
-	if r.Metric != "" {
+	if !stripDummyMetric {
 		lfs = append(lfs, prompbmarshal.Label{
 			Name:  "__name__",
 			Value: r.Metric,
diff --git a/lib/promrelabel/relabel.go b/lib/promrelabel/relabel.go
index 9c0516639..1d6a92622 100644
--- a/lib/promrelabel/relabel.go
+++ b/lib/promrelabel/relabel.go
@@ -28,9 +28,11 @@ type parsedRelabelConfig struct {
 	graphiteMatchTemplate *graphiteMatchTemplate
 	graphiteLabelRules    []graphiteLabelRule
 
-	regexOriginal                *regexp.Regexp
-	hasCaptureGroupInTargetLabel bool
-	hasCaptureGroupInReplacement bool
+	regexOriginal *regexp.Regexp
+
+	hasCaptureGroupInTargetLabel   bool
+	hasCaptureGroupInReplacement   bool
+	hasLabelReferenceInReplacement bool
 }
 
 // String returns human-readable representation for prc.
@@ -172,10 +174,16 @@ func (prc *parsedRelabelConfig) apply(labels []prompbmarshal.Label, labelsOffset
 		return labels
 	case "replace":
 		// Store `replacement` at `target_label` if the `regex` matches `source_labels` joined with `separator`
+		replacement := prc.Replacement
 		bb := relabelBufPool.Get()
+		if prc.hasLabelReferenceInReplacement {
+			// Fill {{labelName}} references in the replacement
+			bb.B = fillLabelReferences(bb.B[:0], replacement, labels[labelsOffset:])
+			replacement = string(bb.B)
+		}
 		bb.B = concatLabelValues(bb.B[:0], src, prc.SourceLabels, prc.Separator)
 		if prc.Regex == defaultRegexForRelabelConfig && !prc.hasCaptureGroupInTargetLabel {
-			if prc.Replacement == "$1" {
+			if replacement == "$1" {
 				// Fast path for the rule that copies source label values to destination:
 				// - source_labels: [...]
 				//   target_label: foobar
@@ -188,7 +196,7 @@ func (prc *parsedRelabelConfig) apply(labels []prompbmarshal.Label, labelsOffset
 				// - target_label: foobar
 				//   replacement: something-here
 				relabelBufPool.Put(bb)
-				labels = setLabelValue(labels, labelsOffset, prc.TargetLabel, prc.Replacement)
+				labels = setLabelValue(labels, labelsOffset, prc.TargetLabel, replacement)
 				return labels
 			}
 		}
@@ -203,7 +211,7 @@ func (prc *parsedRelabelConfig) apply(labels []prompbmarshal.Label, labelsOffset
 		if prc.hasCaptureGroupInTargetLabel {
 			nameStr = prc.expandCaptureGroups(nameStr, sourceStr, match)
 		}
-		valueStr := prc.expandCaptureGroups(prc.Replacement, sourceStr, match)
+		valueStr := prc.expandCaptureGroups(replacement, sourceStr, match)
 		relabelBufPool.Put(bb)
 		return setLabelValue(labels, labelsOffset, nameStr, valueStr)
 	case "replace_all":
@@ -539,3 +547,25 @@ func labelsToString(labels []prompbmarshal.Label) string {
 	b = append(b, '}')
 	return string(b)
 }
+
+func fillLabelReferences(dst []byte, replacement string, labels []prompbmarshal.Label) []byte {
+	s := replacement
+	for len(s) > 0 {
+		n := strings.Index(s, "{{")
+		if n < 0 {
+			return append(dst, s...)
+		}
+		dst = append(dst, s[:n]...)
+		s = s[n+2:]
+		n = strings.Index(s, "}}")
+		if n < 0 {
+			dst = append(dst, "{{"...)
+			return append(dst, s...)
+		}
+		labelName := s[:n]
+		s = s[n+2:]
+		labelValue := GetLabelValueByName(labels, labelName)
+		dst = append(dst, labelValue...)
+	}
+	return dst
+}
diff --git a/lib/promrelabel/relabel_test.go b/lib/promrelabel/relabel_test.go
index 68ec973bf..52b501bc5 100644
--- a/lib/promrelabel/relabel_test.go
+++ b/lib/promrelabel/relabel_test.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package promrelabel
 
 import (
-	"reflect"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompbmarshal"
@@ -55,96 +54,50 @@ func TestLabelsToString(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
-	f := func(config string, labels []prompbmarshal.Label, isFinalize bool, resultExpected []prompbmarshal.Label) {
+	f := func(config, metric string, isFinalize bool, resultExpected string) {
 		t.Helper()
 		pcs, err := ParseRelabelConfigsData([]byte(config), false)
 		if err != nil {
 			t.Fatalf("cannot parse %q: %s", config, err)
 		}
-		result := pcs.Apply(labels, 0, isFinalize)
-		if !reflect.DeepEqual(result, resultExpected) {
-			t.Fatalf("unexpected result; got\n%v\nwant\n%v", result, resultExpected)
+		labels, err := parseMetricWithLabels(metric)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("cannot parse %s: %s", metric, err)
+		}
+		resultLabels := pcs.Apply(labels, 0, isFinalize)
+		result := labelsToString(resultLabels)
+		if result != resultExpected {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected result; got\n%s\nwant\n%s", result, resultExpected)
 		}
 	}
 	t.Run("empty_relabel_configs", func(t *testing.T) {
-		f("", nil, false, nil)
-		f("", nil, true, nil)
-		f("", []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-		})
-		f("", []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "xxx",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "__aaa",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "xxx",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-		})
+		f("", `{}`, false, `{}`)
+		f("", `{}`, true, `{}`)
+		f("", `{foo="bar"}`, false, `{foo="bar"}`)
+		f("", `xxx{foo="bar",__aaa="yyy"}`, false, `xxx{__aaa="yyy",foo="bar"}`)
+		f("", `xxx{foo="bar",__aaa="yyy"}`, true, `xxx{foo="bar"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: replace
   target_label: bar
-`, nil, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{})
+`, `{}`, false, `{}`)
 		f(`
 - action: replace
   source_labels: ["foo"]
   target_label: bar
-`, nil, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{})
+`, `{}`, false, `{}`)
 		f(`
 - action: replace
   source_labels: ["foo"]
   target_label: "bar"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy"}`, false, `{xxx="yyy"}`)
 		f(`
 - action: replace
   source_labels: ["foo"]
   target_label: "bar"
   regex: ".+"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy"}`, false, `{xxx="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace-if-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -153,17 +106,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   source_labels: ["xxx", "foo"]
   target_label: "bar"
   replacement: "a-$1-b"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy"}`, false, `{xxx="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -171,21 +114,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   source_labels: ["xxx", "foo"]
   target_label: "bar"
   replacement: "a-$1-b"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "bar",
-				Value: "a-yyy;-b",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy"}`, false, `{bar="a-yyy;-b",xxx="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace-if-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -194,21 +123,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   source_labels: ["xxx", "foo"]
   target_label: "bar"
   replacement: "a-$1-b"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "bar",
-				Value: "a-yyy;-b",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy"}`, false, `{bar="a-yyy;-b",xxx="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace-remove-label-value-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -217,21 +132,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   target_label: "foo"
   regex: "xxx"
   replacement: ""
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "xxx",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "bar",
-				Value: "baz",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "bar",
-				Value: "baz",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="xxx",bar="baz"}`, false, `{bar="baz"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace-remove-label-value-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -240,25 +141,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   target_label: "foo"
   regex: "xxx"
   replacement: ""
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "bar",
-				Value: "baz",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "bar",
-				Value: "baz",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="yyy",bar="baz"}`, false, `{bar="baz",foo="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace-hit-remove-label", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -267,21 +150,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   regex: "yyy;.+"
   target_label: "foo"
   replacement: ""
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy",foo="bar"}`, false, `{xxx="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace-miss-remove-label", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -290,25 +159,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   regex: "yyy;.+"
   target_label: "foo"
   replacement: ""
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyyz",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyyz",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyyz",foo="bar"}`, false, `{foo="bar",xxx="yyyz"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace-hit-target-label-with-capture-group", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -316,64 +167,30 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   source_labels: ["xxx", "foo"]
   target_label: "bar-$1"
   replacement: "a-$1-b"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "bar-yyy;",
-				Value: "a-yyy;-b",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy"}`, false, `{bar-yyy;="a-yyy;-b",xxx="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace_all-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: replace_all
   source_labels: [foo]
   target_label: "bar"
-`, nil, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{})
+`, `{}`, false, `{}`)
 		f(`
 - action: replace_all
   source_labels: ["foo"]
   target_label: "bar"
-`, nil, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{})
+`, `{}`, false, `{}`)
 		f(`
 - action: replace_all
   source_labels: ["foo"]
   target_label: "bar"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy"}`, false, `{xxx="yyy"}`)
 		f(`
 - action: replace_all
   source_labels: ["foo"]
   target_label: "bar"
   regex: ".+"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy"}`, false, `{xxx="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace_all-if-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -383,17 +200,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   target_label: "xxx"
   regex: "-"
   replacement: "."
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "a-b-c",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "a-b-c",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="a-b-c"}`, false, `{xxx="a-b-c"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace_all-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -402,17 +209,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   target_label: "xxx"
   regex: "-"
   replacement: "."
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "a-b-c",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "a.b.c",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="a-b-c"}`, false, `{xxx="a.b.c"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace_all-if-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -422,17 +219,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   target_label: "xxx"
   regex: "-"
   replacement: "."
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "a-b-c",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "a.b.c",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="a-b-c"}`, false, `{xxx="a.b.c"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace_all-regex-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -441,17 +228,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   target_label: "xxx"
   regex: "(;)"
   replacement: "-$1-"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "y;y",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "y-;-y-;-",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="y;y"}`, false, `{xxx="y-;-y-;-"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace-add-multi-labels", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -463,33 +240,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   source_labels: ["bar"]
   target_label: "zar"
   replacement: "b-$1"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "instance",
-				Value: "a.bc",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "bar",
-				Value: "a-yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "instance",
-				Value: "a.bc",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "zar",
-				Value: "b-a-yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy",instance="a.bc"}`, true, `{bar="a-yyy",instance="a.bc",xxx="yyy",zar="b-a-yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace-self", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -497,181 +248,84 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   source_labels: ["foo"]
   target_label: "foo"
   replacement: "a-$1"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "aaxx",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "a-aaxx",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="aaxx"}`, true, `{foo="a-aaxx"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("replace-missing-source", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: replace
   target_label: foo
   replacement: "foobar"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "foobar",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{}`, true, `{foo="foobar"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("keep_if_equal-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: keep_if_equal
   source_labels: ["foo", "bar"]
-`, nil, true, nil)
+`, `{}`, true, `{}`)
 		f(`
 - action: keep_if_equal
   source_labels: ["xxx", "bar"]
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{})
+`, `{xxx="yyy"}`, true, `{}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("keep_if_equal-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: keep_if_equal
   source_labels: ["xxx", "bar"]
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "bar",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "bar",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy",bar="yyy"}`, true, `{bar="yyy",xxx="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("drop_if_equal-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: drop_if_equal
   source_labels: ["foo", "bar"]
-`, nil, true, nil)
+`, `{}`, true, `{}`)
 		f(`
 - action: drop_if_equal
   source_labels: ["xxx", "bar"]
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy"}`, true, `{xxx="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("drop_if_equal-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: drop_if_equal
   source_labels: [xxx, bar]
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "bar",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{})
+`, `{xxx="yyy",bar="yyy"}`, true, `{}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("keep-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: keep
   source_labels: [foo]
   regex: ".+"
-`, nil, true, nil)
+`, `{}`, true, `{}`)
 		f(`
 - action: keep
   source_labels: [foo]
   regex: ".+"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{})
+`, `{xxx="yyy"}`, true, `{}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("keep-if-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: keep
   if: '{foo="bar"}'
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{})
+`, `{foo="yyy"}`, false, `{}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("keep-if-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: keep
   if: '{foo="yyy"}'
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="yyy"}`, false, `{foo="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("keep-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: keep
   source_labels: [foo]
   regex: "yyy"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="yyy"}`, false, `{foo="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("keep-hit-regexp", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: keep
   source_labels: ["foo"]
   regex: ".+"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="yyy"}`, false, `{foo="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("keep_metrics-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -679,39 +333,19 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   regex:
   - foo
   - bar
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "xxx",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{})
+`, `xxx`, true, `{}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("keep_metrics-if-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: keep_metrics
   if: 'bar'
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "foo",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{})
+`, `foo`, true, `{}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("keep_metrics-if-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: keep_metrics
   if: 'foo'
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "foo",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "foo",
-			},
-		})
+`, `foo`, true, `foo`)
 	})
 	t.Run("keep_metrics-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -719,90 +353,45 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   regex:
   - foo
   - bar
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "foo",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "foo",
-			},
-		})
+`, `foo`, true, `foo`)
 	})
 	t.Run("drop-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: drop
   source_labels: [foo]
   regex: ".+"
-`, nil, false, nil)
+`, `{}`, false, `{}`)
 		f(`
 - action: drop
   source_labels: [foo]
   regex: ".+"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy"}`, true, `{xxx="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("drop-if-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: drop
   if: '{foo="bar"}'
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="yyy"}`, true, `{foo="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("drop-if-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: drop
   if: '{foo="yyy"}'
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{})
+`, `{foo="yyy"}`, true, `{}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("drop-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: drop
   source_labels: [foo]
   regex: yyy
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{})
+`, `{foo="yyy"}`, true, `{}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("drop-hit-regexp", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: drop
   source_labels: [foo]
   regex: ".+"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{})
+`, `{foo="yyy"}`, true, `{}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("drop_metrics-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -810,44 +399,19 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   regex:
   - foo
   - bar
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "xxx",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "xxx",
-			},
-		})
+`, `xxx`, true, `xxx`)
 	})
 	t.Run("drop_metrics-if-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: drop_metrics
   if: bar
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "foo",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "foo",
-			},
-		})
+`, `foo`, true, `foo`)
 	})
 	t.Run("drop_metrics-if-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: drop_metrics
   if: foo
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "foo",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{})
+`, `foo`, true, `{}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("drop_metrics-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -855,12 +419,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   regex:
   - foo
   - bar
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "foo",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{})
+`, `foo`, true, `{}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("hashmod-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -868,21 +427,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   source_labels: [foo]
   target_label: aaa
   modulus: 123
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "aaa",
-				Value: "81",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy"}`, false, `{aaa="81",xxx="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("hashmod-if-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -891,17 +436,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   source_labels: [foo]
   target_label: aaa
   modulus: 123
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="yyy"}`, true, `{foo="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("hashmod-if-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -910,21 +445,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   source_labels: [foo]
   target_label: aaa
   modulus: 123
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "aaa",
-				Value: "73",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="yyy"}`, true, `{aaa="73",foo="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("hashmod-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -932,21 +453,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   source_labels: [foo]
   target_label: aaa
   modulus: 123
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "aaa",
-				Value: "73",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="yyy"}`, true, `{aaa="73",foo="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("labelmap-copy-label-if-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -954,25 +461,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   if: '{foo="yyy",foobar="aab"}'
   regex: "foo"
   replacement: "bar"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`, true, `{foo="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("labelmap-copy-label-if-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -980,143 +469,33 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   if: '{foo="yyy",foobar="aaa"}'
   regex: "foo"
   replacement: "bar"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "bar",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`, true, `{bar="yyy",foo="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("labelmap-copy-label", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: labelmap
   regex: "foo"
   replacement: "bar"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "bar",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`, true, `{bar="yyy",foo="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("labelmap-remove-prefix-dot-star", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: labelmap
   regex: "foo(.*)"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xoo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "bar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "xoo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xoo="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`, true, `{bar="aaa",foobar="aaa",xoo="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("labelmap-remove-prefix-dot-plus", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: labelmap
   regex: "foo(.+)"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "bar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`, true, `{bar="aaa",foo="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("labelmap-regex", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: labelmap
   regex: "foo(.+)"
   replacement: "$1-x"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "bar-x",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`, true, `{bar-x="aaa",foo="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("labelmap_all-if-miss", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -1124,25 +503,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   if: foobar
   regex: "\\."
   replacement: "-"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo.bar.baz",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo.bar.baz",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo.bar.baz="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`, true, `{foo.bar.baz="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("labelmap_all-if-hit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -1150,473 +511,119 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   if: '{foo.bar.baz="yyy"}'
   regex: "\\."
   replacement: "-"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo.bar.baz",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo-bar-baz",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo.bar.baz="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`, true, `{foo-bar-baz="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("labelmap_all", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: labelmap_all
   regex: "\\."
   replacement: "-"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo.bar.baz",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo-bar-baz",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foobar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo.bar.baz="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`, true, `{foo-bar-baz="yyy",foobar="aaa"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("labelmap_all-regexp", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: labelmap_all
   regex: "ba(.)"
   replacement: "${1}ss"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo.bar.baz",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foozar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo.rss.zss",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foozar",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo.bar.baz="yyy",foozar="aaa"}`, true, `{foo.rss.zss="yyy",foozar="aaa"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("labeldrop", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: labeldrop
   regex: dropme
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "aaa",
-				Value: "bbb",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "aaa",
-				Value: "bbb",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{aaa="bbb"}`, true, `{aaa="bbb"}`)
 		// if-miss
 		f(`
 - action: labeldrop
   if: foo
   regex: dropme
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "dropme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "dropme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy",dropme="aaa",foo="bar"}`, false, `{dropme="aaa",foo="bar",xxx="yyy"}`)
 		// if-hit
 		f(`
 - action: labeldrop
   if: '{xxx="yyy"}'
   regex: dropme
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "dropme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy",dropme="aaa",foo="bar"}`, false, `{foo="bar",xxx="yyy"}`)
 		f(`
 - action: labeldrop
   regex: dropme
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "dropme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy",dropme="aaa",foo="bar"}`, false, `{foo="bar",xxx="yyy"}`)
 		// regex in single quotes
 		f(`
 - action: labeldrop
   regex: 'dropme'
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "dropme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy",dropme="aaa"}`, false, `{xxx="yyy"}`)
 		// regex in double quotes
 		f(`
 - action: labeldrop
   regex: "dropme"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "dropme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy",dropme="aaa"}`, false, `{xxx="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("labeldrop-prefix", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: labeldrop
   regex: "dropme.*"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "aaa",
-				Value: "bbb",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "aaa",
-				Value: "bbb",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{aaa="bbb"}`, true, `{aaa="bbb"}`)
 		f(`
 - action: labeldrop
   regex: "dropme(.+)"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "dropme-please",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy",dropme-please="aaa",foo="bar"}`, false, `{foo="bar",xxx="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("labeldrop-regexp", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: labeldrop
   regex: ".*dropme.*"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "aaa",
-				Value: "bbb",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "aaa",
-				Value: "bbb",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{aaa="bbb"}`, true, `{aaa="bbb"}`)
 		f(`
 - action: labeldrop
   regex: ".*dropme.*"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "dropme-please",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "xxx",
-				Value: "yyy",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{xxx="yyy",dropme-please="aaa",foo="bar"}`, false, `{foo="bar",xxx="yyy"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("labelkeep", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: labelkeep
   regex: "keepme"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{keepme="aaa"}`, true, `{keepme="aaa"}`)
 		// if-miss
 		f(`
 - action: labelkeep
   if: '{aaaa="awefx"}'
   regex: keepme
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "aaaa",
-				Value: "awef",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme-aaa",
-				Value: "234",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "aaaa",
-				Value: "awef",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme-aaa",
-				Value: "234",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{keepme="aaa",aaaa="awef",keepme-aaa="234"}`, false, `{aaaa="awef",keepme="aaa",keepme-aaa="234"}`)
 		// if-hit
 		f(`
 - action: labelkeep
   if: '{aaaa="awef"}'
   regex: keepme
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "aaaa",
-				Value: "awef",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme-aaa",
-				Value: "234",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{keepme="aaa",aaaa="awef",keepme-aaa="234"}`, false, `{keepme="aaa"}`)
 		f(`
 - action: labelkeep
   regex: keepme
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "aaaa",
-				Value: "awef",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme-aaa",
-				Value: "234",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{keepme="aaa",aaaa="awef",keepme-aaa="234"}`, false, `{keepme="aaa"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("labelkeep-regexp", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: labelkeep
   regex: "keepme.*"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{keepme="aaa"}`, true, `{keepme="aaa"}`)
 		f(`
 - action: labelkeep
   regex: "keepme.*"
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "aaaa",
-				Value: "awef",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme-aaa",
-				Value: "234",
-			},
-		}, false, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "keepme-aaa",
-				Value: "234",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{keepme="aaa",aaaa="awef",keepme-aaa="234"}`, false, `{keepme="aaa",keepme-aaa="234"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("upper-lower-case", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
 - action: uppercase
   source_labels: ["foo"]
   target_label: foo
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "bar",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "BAR",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="bar"}`, true, `{foo="BAR"}`)
 		f(`
 - action: lowercase
   source_labels: ["foo", "bar"]
   target_label: baz
 - action: labeldrop
   regex: foo|bar
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "foo",
-				Value: "BaR",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "bar",
-				Value: "fOO",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "baz",
-				Value: "bar;foo",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{foo="BaR",bar="fOO"}`, true, `{baz="bar;foo"}`)
 		f(`
 - action: lowercase
   source_labels: ["foo"]
@@ -1624,17 +631,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
 - action: uppercase
   source_labels: ["bar"]
   target_label: baz
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "qux",
-				Value: "quux",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "qux",
-				Value: "quux",
-			},
-		})
+`, `{qux="quux"}`, true, `{qux="quux"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("graphite-match", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -1643,21 +640,7 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   labels:
     __name__: aaa
     job: ${1}-zz
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "foo.bar.baz",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "aaa",
-			},
-			{
-				Name:  "job",
-				Value: "bar-zz",
-			},
-		})
+`, `foo.bar.baz`, true, `aaa{job="bar-zz"}`)
 	})
 	t.Run("graphite-mismatch", func(t *testing.T) {
 		f(`
@@ -1666,120 +649,80 @@ func TestApplyRelabelConfigs(t *testing.T) {
   labels:
     __name__: aaa
     job: ${1}-zz
-`, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "foo.bar.bazz",
-			},
-		}, true, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-			{
-				Name:  "__name__",
-				Value: "foo.bar.bazz",
-			},
-		})
+`, `foo.bar.bazz`, true, `foo.bar.bazz`)
+	})
+	t.Run("replacement-with-label-refs", func(t *testing.T) {
+		// no regex
+		f(`
+- target_label: abc
+  replacement: "{{__name__}}.{{foo}}"
+`, `qwe{foo="bar",baz="aaa"}`, true, `qwe{abc="qwe.bar",baz="aaa",foo="bar"}`)
+		// with regex
+		f(`
+- target_label: abc
+  replacement: "{{__name__}}.{{foo}}.$1"
+  source_labels: [baz]
+  regex: "a(.+)"
+`, `qwe{foo="bar",baz="aaa"}`, true, `qwe{abc="qwe.bar.aa",baz="aaa",foo="bar"}`)
 	})
 }
 
 func TestFinalizeLabels(t *testing.T) {
-	f := func(labels, resultExpected []prompbmarshal.Label) {
+	f := func(metric, resultExpected string) {
 		t.Helper()
-		result := FinalizeLabels(nil, labels)
-		if !reflect.DeepEqual(result, resultExpected) {
-			t.Fatalf("unexpected result; got\n%v\nwant\n%v", result, resultExpected)
+		labels, err := parseMetricWithLabels(metric)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("cannot parse %s: %s", metric, err)
+		}
+		resultLabels := FinalizeLabels(nil, labels)
+		result := labelsToString(resultLabels)
+		if result != resultExpected {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected result; got\n%s\nwant\n%s", result, resultExpected)
 		}
 	}
-	f(nil, nil)
-	f([]prompbmarshal.Label{
-		{
-			Name:  "foo",
-			Value: "bar",
-		},
-		{
-			Name:  "__aaa",
-			Value: "ass",
-		},
-		{
-			Name:  "instance",
-			Value: "foo.com",
-		},
-	}, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-		{
-			Name:  "foo",
-			Value: "bar",
-		},
-		{
-			Name:  "instance",
-			Value: "foo.com",
-		},
-	})
-	f([]prompbmarshal.Label{
-		{
-			Name:  "foo",
-			Value: "bar",
-		},
-		{
-			Name:  "instance",
-			Value: "ass",
-		},
-		{
-			Name:  "__address__",
-			Value: "foo.com",
-		},
-	}, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-		{
-			Name:  "foo",
-			Value: "bar",
-		},
-		{
-			Name:  "instance",
-			Value: "ass",
-		},
-	})
+	f(`{}`, `{}`)
+	f(`{foo="bar",__aaa="ass",instance="foo.com"}`, `{foo="bar",instance="foo.com"}`)
+	f(`{foo="bar",instance="ass",__address__="foo.com"}`, `{foo="bar",instance="ass"}`)
+	f(`{foo="bar",abc="def",__address__="foo.com"}`, `{abc="def",foo="bar"}`)
 }
 
 func TestRemoveMetaLabels(t *testing.T) {
-	f := func(labels, resultExpected []prompbmarshal.Label) {
+	f := func(metric, resultExpected string) {
 		t.Helper()
-		result := RemoveMetaLabels(nil, labels)
-		if !reflect.DeepEqual(result, resultExpected) {
-			t.Fatalf("unexpected result of RemoveMetaLabels;\ngot\n%v\nwant\n%v", result, resultExpected)
+		labels, err := parseMetricWithLabels(metric)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("cannot parse %s: %s", metric, err)
+		}
+		resultLabels := RemoveMetaLabels(nil, labels)
+		result := labelsToString(resultLabels)
+		if result != resultExpected {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected result of RemoveMetaLabels;\ngot\n%s\nwant\n%s", result, resultExpected)
 		}
 	}
-	f(nil, nil)
-	f([]prompbmarshal.Label{
-		{
-			Name:  "foo",
-			Value: "bar",
-		},
-	}, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-		{
-			Name:  "foo",
-			Value: "bar",
-		},
-	})
-	f([]prompbmarshal.Label{
-		{
-			Name:  "__meta_foo",
-			Value: "bar",
-		},
-	}, nil)
-	f([]prompbmarshal.Label{
-		{
-			Name:  "__meta_foo",
-			Value: "bdffr",
-		},
-		{
-			Name:  "foo",
-			Value: "bar",
-		},
-		{
-			Name:  "__meta_xxx",
-			Value: "basd",
-		},
-	}, []prompbmarshal.Label{
-		{
-			Name:  "foo",
-			Value: "bar",
-		},
-	})
+	f(`{}`, `{}`)
+	f(`{foo="bar"}`, `{foo="bar"}`)
+	f(`{__meta_foo="bar"}`, `{}`)
+	f(`{__meta_foo="bdffr",foo="bar",__meta_xxx="basd"}`, `{foo="bar"}`)
+}
+
+func TestFillLabelReferences(t *testing.T) {
+	f := func(replacement, metric, resultExpected string) {
+		t.Helper()
+		labels, err := parseMetricWithLabels(metric)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("cannot parse %s: %s", metric, err)
+		}
+		result := fillLabelReferences(nil, replacement, labels)
+		if string(result) != resultExpected {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected result; got\n%q\nwant\n%q", result, resultExpected)
+		}
+	}
+	f(``, `foo{bar="baz"}`, ``)
+	f(`abc`, `foo{bar="baz"}`, `abc`)
+	f(`foo{{bar`, `foo{bar="baz"}`, `foo{{bar`)
+	f(`foo-$1`, `foo{bar="baz"}`, `foo-$1`)
+	f(`foo{{bar}}`, `foo{bar="baz"}`, `foobaz`)
+	f(`{{bar}}`, `foo{bar="baz"}`, `baz`)
+	f(`{{bar}}-aa`, `foo{bar="baz"}`, `baz-aa`)
+	f(`{{bar}}-aa{{__name__}}.{{bar}}{{non-existing-label}}`, `foo{bar="baz"}`, `baz-aafoo.baz`)
 }
diff --git a/lib/promscrape/client.go b/lib/promscrape/client.go
index 568dcea63..93df47862 100644
--- a/lib/promscrape/client.go
+++ b/lib/promscrape/client.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import (
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"strings"
@@ -198,7 +197,7 @@ func (c *client) GetStreamReader() (*streamReader, error) {
 	}
 	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
 		metrics.GetOrCreateCounter(fmt.Sprintf(`vm_promscrape_scrapes_total{status_code="%d"}`, resp.StatusCode)).Inc()
-		respBody, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+		respBody, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 		_ = resp.Body.Close()
 		cancel()
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unexpected status code returned when scraping %q: %d; expecting %d; response body: %q",
diff --git a/lib/promscrape/discovery/azure/api.go b/lib/promscrape/discovery/azure/api.go
index d328706c8..00791d009 100644
--- a/lib/promscrape/discovery/azure/api.go
+++ b/lib/promscrape/discovery/azure/api.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package azure
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"strconv"
@@ -145,7 +144,7 @@ func getCloudEnvByName(name string) (*cloudEnvironmentEndpoints, error) {
 }
 
 func readCloudEndpointsFromFile(filePath string) (*cloudEnvironmentEndpoints, error) {
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filePath)
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(filePath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot file %q: %w", filePath, err)
 	}
diff --git a/lib/promscrape/discovery/consul/api.go b/lib/promscrape/discovery/consul/api.go
index 479654e77..249a536ae 100644
--- a/lib/promscrape/discovery/consul/api.go
+++ b/lib/promscrape/discovery/consul/api.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package consul
 import (
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
@@ -109,7 +108,7 @@ func getToken(token *promauth.Secret) (string, error) {
 		return token.String(), nil
 	}
 	if tokenFile := os.Getenv("CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN_FILE"); tokenFile != "" {
-		data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(tokenFile)
+		data, err := os.ReadFile(tokenFile)
 		if err != nil {
 			return "", fmt.Errorf("cannot read consul token file %q; probably, `token` arg is missing in `consul_sd_config`? error: %w", tokenFile, err)
 		}
diff --git a/lib/promscrape/discovery/gce/api.go b/lib/promscrape/discovery/gce/api.go
index 695fc0842..fdf373901 100644
--- a/lib/promscrape/discovery/gce/api.go
+++ b/lib/promscrape/discovery/gce/api.go
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package gce
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"strings"
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ func getAPIResponse(client *http.Client, apiURL, filter, pageToken string) ([]by
 }
 
 func readResponseBody(resp *http.Response, apiURL string) ([]byte, error) {
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+	data, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	_ = resp.Body.Close()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot read response from %q: %w", apiURL, err)
diff --git a/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/api_watcher.go b/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/api_watcher.go
index a4afcd200..ad6ba53a2 100644
--- a/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/api_watcher.go
+++ b/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/api_watcher.go
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@ import (
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
+	"os"
 	"reflect"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ func newAPIWatcher(apiServer string, ac *promauth.Config, sdc *SDConfig, swcFunc
 	namespaces := sdc.Namespaces.Names
 	if len(namespaces) == 0 {
 		if sdc.Namespaces.OwnNamespace {
-			namespace, err := ioutil.ReadFile("/var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/namespace")
+			namespace, err := os.ReadFile("/var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/namespace")
 			if err != nil {
 				logger.Fatalf("cannot determine namespace for the current pod according to `own_namespace: true` option in kubernetes_sd_config: %s", err)
 			}
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ func (uw *urlWatcher) reloadObjects() string {
 		return ""
 	}
 	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		body, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+		body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 		_ = resp.Body.Close()
 		logger.Errorf("unexpected status code for request to %q: %d; want %d; response: %q", requestURL, resp.StatusCode, http.StatusOK, body)
 		return ""
@@ -675,7 +675,7 @@ func (uw *urlWatcher) watchForUpdates() {
 				uw.staleResourceVersions.Inc()
 				uw.resourceVersion = ""
 			} else {
-				body, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+				body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 				_ = resp.Body.Close()
 				logger.Errorf("unexpected status code for request to %q: %d; want %d; response: %q", requestURL, resp.StatusCode, http.StatusOK, body)
 				backoffSleep()
diff --git a/lib/promscrape/discovery/openstack/api.go b/lib/promscrape/discovery/openstack/api.go
index eaa6a0e90..4dbc741ad 100644
--- a/lib/promscrape/discovery/openstack/api.go
+++ b/lib/promscrape/discovery/openstack/api.go
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"path"
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ func getCreds(cfg *apiConfig) (*apiCredentials, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed query openstack identity api, url: %s, err: %w", apiURL.String(), err)
 	}
-	r, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+	r, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	_ = resp.Body.Close()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot read response from %q: %w", apiURL.String(), err)
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ func getCreds(cfg *apiConfig) (*apiCredentials, error) {
 
 // readResponseBody reads body from http.Response.
 func readResponseBody(resp *http.Response, apiURL string) ([]byte, error) {
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+	data, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	_ = resp.Body.Close()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot read response from %q: %w", apiURL, err)
diff --git a/lib/promscrape/discovery/yandexcloud/api.go b/lib/promscrape/discovery/yandexcloud/api.go
index 5372b8e17..77591621b 100644
--- a/lib/promscrape/discovery/yandexcloud/api.go
+++ b/lib/promscrape/discovery/yandexcloud/api.go
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"sync"
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ func getAPIResponse(apiURL string, cfg *apiConfig) ([]byte, error) {
 
 // readResponseBody reads body from http.Response.
 func readResponseBody(resp *http.Response, apiURL string) ([]byte, error) {
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+	data, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	_ = resp.Body.Close()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot read response from %q: %w", apiURL, err)
diff --git a/lib/promscrape/scrapework.go b/lib/promscrape/scrapework.go
index c9e1fea7a..ae3dc4d4c 100644
--- a/lib/promscrape/scrapework.go
+++ b/lib/promscrape/scrapework.go
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/auth"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"io"
 	"math"
 	"math/bits"
 	"strconv"
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ func (sw *scrapeWork) getTargetResponse() ([]byte, error) {
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
-		data, err := ioutil.ReadAll(sr)
+		data, err := io.ReadAll(sr)
 		sr.MustClose()
 		return data, err
 	}
diff --git a/lib/snapshot/snapshot.go b/lib/snapshot/snapshot.go
index ba19ea8e2..b7847fa9b 100644
--- a/lib/snapshot/snapshot.go
+++ b/lib/snapshot/snapshot.go
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"regexp"
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ func Create(createSnapshotURL string) (string, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
-	body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ func Delete(deleteSnapshotURL string, snapshotName string) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/lib/storage/metaindex_row.go b/lib/storage/metaindex_row.go
index 162bbd94f..2ec257630 100644
--- a/lib/storage/metaindex_row.go
+++ b/lib/storage/metaindex_row.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package storage
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"sort"
 
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/encoding"
@@ -128,7 +127,7 @@ func (mr *metaindexRow) Unmarshal(src []byte) ([]byte, error) {
 }
 
 func unmarshalMetaindexRows(dst []metaindexRow, r io.Reader) ([]metaindexRow, error) {
-	compressedData, err := ioutil.ReadAll(r)
+	compressedData, err := io.ReadAll(r)
 	if err != nil {
 		return dst, fmt.Errorf("cannot read metaindex rows: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/lib/storage/part_header.go b/lib/storage/part_header.go
index af62a9438..1e21e2823 100644
--- a/lib/storage/part_header.go
+++ b/lib/storage/part_header.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package storage
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strconv"
@@ -131,7 +130,7 @@ func (ph *partHeader) Reset() {
 
 func (ph *partHeader) readMinDedupInterval(partPath string) error {
 	filePath := partPath + "/min_dedup_interval"
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filePath)
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(filePath)
 	if err != nil {
 		if errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
 			// The minimum dedup interval may not exist for old parts.
diff --git a/lib/storage/partition.go b/lib/storage/partition.go
index 1462060f3..9a4ca07f2 100644
--- a/lib/storage/partition.go
+++ b/lib/storage/partition.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package storage
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"sort"
@@ -871,7 +870,7 @@ func hasActiveMerges(pws []*partWrapper) bool {
 
 var (
 	bigMergeWorkersCount   = getDefaultMergeConcurrency(4)
-	smallMergeWorkersCount = getDefaultMergeConcurrency(8)
+	smallMergeWorkersCount = getDefaultMergeConcurrency(16)
 )
 
 func getDefaultMergeConcurrency(max int) int {
@@ -1743,7 +1742,7 @@ func runTransaction(txnLock *sync.RWMutex, pathPrefix1, pathPrefix2, txnPath str
 	txnLock.RLock()
 	defer txnLock.RUnlock()
 
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(txnPath)
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(txnPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("cannot read transaction file: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/lib/storage/storage.go b/lib/storage/storage.go
index 8b68395aa..24970e987 100644
--- a/lib/storage/storage.go
+++ b/lib/storage/storage.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"math"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -845,7 +844,7 @@ func (s *Storage) mustLoadNextDayMetricIDs(date uint64) *byDateMetricIDEntry {
 		logger.Infof("nothing to load from %q", path)
 		return e
 	}
-	src, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
+	src, err := os.ReadFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		logger.Panicf("FATAL: cannot read %s: %s", path, err)
 	}
@@ -889,7 +888,7 @@ func (s *Storage) mustLoadHourMetricIDs(hour uint64, name string) *hourMetricIDs
 		logger.Infof("nothing to load from %q", path)
 		return hm
 	}
-	src, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
+	src, err := os.ReadFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		logger.Panicf("FATAL: cannot read %s: %s", path, err)
 	}
@@ -938,7 +937,7 @@ func (s *Storage) mustSaveNextDayMetricIDs(e *byDateMetricIDEntry) {
 	// Marshal e.v
 	dst = marshalUint64Set(dst, &e.v)
 
-	if err := ioutil.WriteFile(path, dst, 0644); err != nil {
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, dst, 0644); err != nil {
 		logger.Panicf("FATAL: cannot write %d bytes to %q: %s", len(dst), path, err)
 	}
 	logger.Infof("saved %s to %q in %.3f seconds; entriesCount: %d; sizeBytes: %d", name, path, time.Since(startTime).Seconds(), e.v.Len(), len(dst))
@@ -961,7 +960,7 @@ func (s *Storage) mustSaveHourMetricIDs(hm *hourMetricIDs, name string) {
 	// Marshal hm.m
 	dst = marshalUint64Set(dst, hm.m)
 
-	if err := ioutil.WriteFile(path, dst, 0644); err != nil {
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, dst, 0644); err != nil {
 		logger.Panicf("FATAL: cannot write %d bytes to %q: %s", len(dst), path, err)
 	}
 	logger.Infof("saved %s to %q in %.3f seconds; entriesCount: %d; sizeBytes: %d", name, path, time.Since(startTime).Seconds(), hm.m.Len(), len(dst))
@@ -1022,7 +1021,7 @@ func mustGetMinTimestampForCompositeIndex(metadataDir string, isEmptyDB bool) in
 }
 
 func loadMinTimestampForCompositeIndex(path string) (int64, error) {
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, err
 	}